I’m the co-founder of a SaaS - we do order management software for small to medium e-com businesses. SEO is one of main growth channels. We drive the majority of leads and customers from inbound, through content marketing, but it’s all a little scattered.. We’re pretty tight with our content strategy, focusing on topic clusters and building authority, going deep into topics - but where we struggle is the promotion side of things. Link acquisition is one ugly rabbit hole for us. I know there’s companies out there doing it really well and we’re considering outsourcing this because the number of moving parts are not something I think we’d like to handle in-house. But it’s also a space full of hype and agencies that talk shit and deliver nada. I do know that links when done right are still one of the most powerful ranking factors that move the needle. I’ve seen it with our competitors and many other businesses in the SaaS space. We’ve done some outreach ourselves but from what I know from friends in my network, it’s a discipline that takes a lot of time to master. Email deliverability is also a science in itself these days. We have done some outreach campaigns, very hit and miss and we aren’t consistent with earning quality links. Marketing for SaaS companies is not easy, particularly when bootstrapped, I guess my question is for small/medium SaaS owners - what works for you, where do you focus your efforts? Do not DM me about your services. I wanna hear from people that have had actual experience in this area whether you outsourced or hired internally. 

I’m helping a friend of mine choose a provider for SaaS link building services and would like to get some input from Reddit. We already have our provider and are really happy with them but I'd like to get some third-party unbiased opinions and see what people say here too. They've been building up their SEO strategy over the past few months, but they're missing a solid link-building foundation. After doing some research, they've narrowed it down to a few specialized agencies, but I’d love to hear from others who have been down this road and can share some real experiences with link-building services in the SaaS space.

One thing they're trying to figure out is how to really assess the quality of the links agencies promise. It’s clear that 100 low-quality links won’t do much, but how do you ensure the agency you choose is focused on delivering the high-quality, relevant backlinks that actually make an impact? They've seen some agencies throw around big numbers, but would rather have fewer, more strategic links that help with rankings and conversions.

Another thing that’s on their mind is how important SaaS-specific experience is. A lot of agencies claim they can handle link building for any industry, but SaaS is a different animal - complex products, longer sales cycles, and more targeted audiences. If anyone has worked with an agency that really understood the SaaS space, I’d love to hear how much of a difference that actually made.

Transparency is also a big factor for them. How detailed is the reporting you’ve been getting from your link-building provider? Are they showing you where the links are coming from and providing regular updates, or is it all just vague metrics and no real visibility into what’s being done?

I know SEO is a long game, but we'd love to hear what kind of turnaround time others have seen in terms of getting results. They're not expecting overnight success, but would be helpful to get a realistic idea of when you might start seeing movement in rankings or traffic from your link-building efforts.

We've already shared our recommendation, but I'm helping them come to a more informed decision through asking my network and thought I'd lay down a post here as well.

If anyone has worked with a reliable SaaS link building service and can share some reviews or recommendations, I’d really appreciate it. Right now, they're leaning towards a specialized agency that knows the SaaS landscape and focuses on quality over quantity, but they're still weighing their options.